Misplaced
by Queen Ardina
Summary: Mary is in a town that she doesn't belong in. Are her similaritys to Maerad a ticket to a Less depressing life, or is she just going to grow up to be a shop assistant? Will Cadvan rescue her from this life, or is nobody there?
1. Misplaced

**Greetings! I made the first bit up in English one day, but then I thought about it and realised what it could mean, so now I've tweaked it a bit, Ok maybe a lot. But anyway, you don't want to hear about me, you want to hear about Mary.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the books of Pellinor, cos if I did there would be a fifth one by now.**

Misplaced

For almost as long as she could remember Mary had been different. She just didn't fit in. She was sitting in maths not paying the slightest bit of attention, dreaming of somewhere else: Edil-Amarandh. She imagined herself in a school like Innail or Gent, learning about important things like the balance, not maths.

She loved the books of Pellinor they were perhaps the only thing that brightened up her dismal life, apart from music. She could always be found tapping a beat or humming a tune. Her family was too poor for her to have any lessons although she did have an ancient lyre that had been passed down through her family for generations. She played it when she was alone, and had developed quite a skill with it. She was so tempted to carve the runes of the treesong onto it, but if she did her mum would kill her. She lived in a small, very remote town in the mountains. It was almost like a prison; there wasn't anywhere that wasn't rock or grass for miles, so she couldn't go anywhere else even if she wanted to. The scenery would be quite nice if it wasn't for the constant rain and grey skies. She remembered going on holiday once when she was six, but had never left this damned town since.

She was dragged out of her imaginary world by the bell and went to find her friends. Her so called "friends", who really only pitied her, she could see were on the other side of the playground. As she walked past the hundreds of faces, she wondered, not for the first time why every one in this place looked the same. They all had fair or brown hair and brown eyes. And it wasn't just the school. The whole town was like this, even her mum looked nothing like her. When she thought about it, it wasn't just looks that were very different about them. Mary had long and slightly wavy, black hair, piercing blue eyes and skin like porcelain. In her opinion she looked like Maerad and if there was ever a Pellinor movie she would get down on her hands and knees and beg to go to wherever the auditions were taking place. She had often dreamed of being rescued from this prison by Cadvan and discovering that she was actually Maerad of Pellinor, the fire lily, Elednor of Edil-Amarandh. She had dismissed that thought as unrealistic, a long time ago, although she still hoped.

It was the spring equinox, or as she called it, the spring turn. She tried to ignore this fact, as it only made her despair at her life, though it still nagged at the back of her mind. She realised that she wasn't looking where she was going a split second before she walked into Laurence.

"Oi, watch where you're going, Mary Mary quite contrary."

"Watch who you're insulting, peabrain."

"oooOOOooo, the witch is angry"

"Oh just shut up you idiot."

"I'm not an idiot."

"Yes you are." And with that she walked away. She didn't fit in with this world. She was misplaced.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully. When it was final time to go home she found that a tension was building as she walked towards the bike shed. It was becoming almost imberable but she couldn't run or even speed up. There was a seemingly endless, slow but steady walk between her and her destination. Her destination, where her future would be decided. Maerad of Pellinor, Elednor, the fire lily of Edil-Amarandh, or Mary the shop assistant. The end drew near, Mary stumbled into the bike shed and looked around. Every thing was slow and dreamlike. As she turned her gaze upon the final unsearched corner the slow realisation hit her. He wasn't there. Despair filled her up and she felt that she would burst with it. She sank to the ground and put her head in her hands. She felt as if all the breath had been knocked out of her and however hard she tried to breath it didn't help. She felt uncontrollable sobs coming on but with great difficulty stifled them. It wouldn't be good to be found here like this.

She looked up. A man was standing in the doorway, not ten feet away. The man was tall, and his stern face was shadowed by a dark, roughly woollen hood. She stood up, her legs shaking.

"Who are you?" she asked, more confidently than she felt.

"Maerad, I've finally found you!" He said as he rushed forwards to hug her. Seeing the surprise on her face he stopped and said, "It's me, Cadvan." That was the last thing she knew before every thing went black and she fell to the ground in a dead faint.

**So, what do you think? I'd like some reviews before I tell you what on earth has happened. I'll try to post again soon. I apologise for any feelings of annoyance, but before I edited this the end was missing, although it was a bit of a cliff-hanger where it finished before, but this is more confusing Brought to you by,**

**Queen Ardina ****J**


	2. Confusion

**Here is chapter two of misplaced. Thank you to the two people who reviewed, I would wait for more but I have to complete this story for an English assessment (isn't that the best homework ever!) I hope you like it.**

Confusion

Maerad opened her eyes and stared up at a brilliant blue sky. It was more blue than she had ever seen it, or maybe she had but had forgotten. She thought back then remembered. Of course she wasn't Maerad. Why did she have to go through this every time she woke up? As she gradually woke up she remembered yesterdays events. Or was it yesterday. She had feinted and… where was she! She sat bolt upright and looked around her. She was in a small clearing of birch trees. It was like how she had always imagined a bardhome. Not far away she could see Cadvan frying mushrooms. He hadn't noticed that she had woken up yet. She hugged her knees with her eyes closed for a long time trying to order her thoughts. They flew through her head in a jumbled and mismatched order, confusing her. She found that the best way to make sense of things was to start from the beginning. If she was indeed Maerad, she must have solved the riddle of the treesong, somehow got trapped in a parallel universe, lost her memory and spent sixteen years wandering, confused, in this world. Or had it been only a week, and the rest of it has been a false memory implanted in her mind. It was probably five months ago, when she had first discovered the books of Pellinor. Cadvan had chosen just the right moment to rescue her. Or it could have been a coincident. This made more sense but she still was unsure of what on earth was happening. Just then Cadvan interrupted her thoughts.

"Maerad?" he said gently. She could tell he had been watching her for some time. She looked into his eyes. He seemed very concerned. His eyes were a deep blue and were very familiar, even though she did not remember seeing them before. She didn't know what to say. In the end she asked the question that was at the front of her mind.

"Are you Cadvan." In her heart she knew the answer, but she needed to be sure.

"Yes, I am Cadvan." he replied "I am surprised you remember me."

"I read the books of Pellinor." At his questioning look she continued, "They tell the story of the riddle of the treesong."

"Ah, I thought there would be some link." it was her turn to be confused "Maerad where do you think we are?"

"A bard home" She replied.

"And how did we get here." He questioned.

" I don't know." She exclaimed, "I'm the one who feinted, not you!" He ignored her outburst and continued.

"Is 'Mary' prone to feigning?" Maerad thought back for a moment then suddenly went still. She nodded. Now she thought about it she feinted almost every day and woke up somewhere else. How could she have been so stupid to not even think anything of it. It was almost like a dream, when the scene suddenly changes but you don't even think about it. It means nothing to your unconscious mind. But when you wake up, you forget every thing that happened and is seems like a senseless blur of thoughts and scenarios. "Maerad, this is all inside your head and you need to wake up." he whispered.

"But I can't, I don't know how, I don't remember. . ." She trailed off as her vision blurred and blacked out and he slipped from consciousness once again.

**A universe inside ones head must be very mind boggling! I apologise for the shortness but I shall post again as soon as possible. **

**Brought to you by**

**Queen Ardina : )**


	3. Memories

**Greetings, this is the third chapter of misplaced and I apologize in advance for any OOCness. Enjoy.**

Maerad opened her eyes. She quickly realised that she was lying face down and promptly stood up. The harsh wind buffeted her face and she was chilled to the bone. She stood on a small ledge on a cliff side with the sea crashing against the rocks below her. It could have been dawn or twilight, she couldn't tell. Either way she was cold, scared and confused. She sat down and huddled her school jumper closer around her shoulders. _Maerad, this is all inside your head and you need to wake up. _What was that supposed to mean. Well, it meant what it said, but how had she managed to create a whole universe. Although it happens all the time in books when writers create an entire world that the book is set in. Sometimes they even live in their made up world in a sense. Of course not like she did but they would base characters on themselves, although not exactly like them because if they were dropped into their own books they would most likely panic or feel misplaced, like she did. Therefore it was possible that she had created this world, although she had no idea of how she came to live in it.

How long had she been here, because of the feinting, a week could have passed in her head, but it had only really been one day. If she could find her earliest memory she might be able to work it out from that. Her earliest memory, now that's hard. Well it would be that holiday when she was six. Now that could have been part of the made up universe, a kind of setting the scene thing. Or it could have been something that she did in her made up universe if that made any sense at all. Her memories of the holiday were… the sun, familiar faces, a different place. Surely she should be able to remember more than that; she was six after all. So that wasn't a memory, it was like an idea. As I thought before, it could possibly be five months ago when I first read the books of Pellinor. Despite the frequent fainting, these past five months have been clearer. Of course time may be different inside my head so it doesn't really get me anywhere.

If she thought about all the things in her head that weren'tt in edil amarandth. Drasticly different things, like a car for instance she could thing of the concept of it: just like a carriage that doesn't need a horse to move. Someone in Edil-Amarandh could have thought of the idea, but as just a dream. And this was a dream, wasn't it. Or at least like a dream. She hadn't paid much attention in school when they explained how things like that worked. She thought that it was just because that just wasn't her subject, but now she realised that it was because there wasn't actually anything to learn. The words of her teacher as she daydreamed about Pellinor were nonsense that went in one ear and out of the other.

Well that settled it. She was in an imaginary world inside her own head. She could wake up, but she didn't know how, the only way would be if Cadvan spoke into her head again and helped her. She wondered why he had left, he was mid conversation. Someone must have attacked him to make him stop because he would at least say that he had to go.

"Hello Maerad" the threatening bodiless voice echoed off the cliff face.

"What? Who's there?" Shouted Maerad, scrambling to her feet so as not to seem weak or scared.

"This is the second time you've forgotten me now." Replied the voice. "I see I'll have to remind you though I cant understand how someone could forget the person who is responsible for the deaths of most of their family and sold you into slavery."

"Enkir." Maerad hissed. "I remember you but not your voice, I couldn't possibly forget you. Where are you anyway."

"I'm here and there, everywhere and nowhere, this way and that way, anywhere and in a specific pace." He replied.

"So basically your messing with my head, aren't you?" Said Maerad, trying to seem strong.

"Maybe, maybe not." He taunted.

"Stop it will you!" said Maerad angrily. "Everyone knows that your mad, I personally dealt with you. What will you gain from messing with my head?"

"What? Your not supposed to remember that bit. I don't want you to remember!" he sounded almost like a small child about to have a tantrum.

"Now I think about it, that bit isn't in the books." As soon as she said it a vivid blur of images flashed through her mind of what, she supposed was her bringing down Enkir." Mayby if she concentrated on those images, she might be able to remember more. She sat back down and closed her eyes and thought as hard as she could.

"Well even if I did make you remember a bit of your life, it isn't enough. I can still drive you insane for eternity. Now, where to begin?"

**Did you like it? I have drasticly changed my ideas for the next few chapters because I'm running dangerously late on my deadline, although that way it doesn't get any more complicated. Thanks for reading, brought t you by **

**Queen Ardina XD**


	4. Remember

**Greetings, I'm sorry about the shortness of this chapter but I thought that this was a good place to end the chapter. **

"Go away Enkir will you, You don't gain anything from this." The still not visible Enkir was lecturing her on the history of Turbanskien monkeys and it was really getting on Maerads nerves.

" …and that was when the first bard of Turbansk deemed it illegal to eat fruit from the south side of the river… "

Maerad had been thinking hard for about an hour and nothing new had got into her head.

" …of course the Earn wasn't very happy about that… " To be honest she was getting quite bored because she had exhausted thinking about all the things to do with her situation and on this narrow ledge there was nothing to do.

" …she love those monkey… "She could pay attention to what Enkir was talking about, but it seemed that he intended on driving her mad.

" …those cute cheekey faces..." In the end she went into a dull stupor and eventually fell asleep.

She woke in a warm and cosy bed in a softly lit room. It had deep red, but not quite crimson walls, a dark pine floor with a chocolate brown rug that matched her bedsheets. There was a fire crackling merrily away in the grate that made her feel somehow at home even though she didn't have the faintest idea where she was. In the room there was a bedside table, a large wardrobe, a bookshelf, a writing desk and a large chest. All were made of some dark stained wood with iron hinges and handles.

She sat up to find a steaming bowl of thick vegetable soup. She suddenly realised how hungry she was and quickly devoured the bowl. She got up and put on the dressing gown that hung on the back of the door. There was no one in sight as she poked her head out of the door so she decided to explore a bit. The indigo walls had evenly spaced gold stars on them, which looked like they were painted by children. She drew back an intricately designed orange Hanging to find a room full of people.

"Maerad!" said Cadvan "you're home." Maerad looked around the room at all the friendly smiling, familiar faces.

"Where are we?" asked Maerad.

"This is my home in Lirigon." He replied "I think that even thought you have woken up, you still do not remember."

"That would make sense, but how do I remember?"

"Do you recognise anyone in this room and could you name any of them?" Other than Cadvan, there were four people all siting on sofas with a big white bird perched on the edge of the fruit bowl. She stood next to the bird.

"Well I guess that this is Irc." Said Maerad. Irc cawed in greeting. "Hem would be the boy, Saliman the dark skinned one, Nelac the old man and the woman would be Hekibel." she continued "It's good to put a face to a name but this doesn't make me remember anymore than anything else."

"Mary, Mary, Mary, Mary." Everyone inn the room repeated, "Mary, Mary…"

"What? Why are you calling me Mary?"

"Mary, Mary, Mary…"

**I know that this chapter is terrible but I'll make up for it in the next one. Brought to you by **

**Queen Ardina**


	5. Reality?

**I expect you probably guessed what was going to happen in this chapter, but it isn't all that it seems. I shall say no more and get on with my art homework instead. Enjoy. **

"Mary, MARY, will you pay attention, now can you answer my question." Oh no, not again. Why did she always seem to fanaticise about ever more complex ways of possibly being Maerad of Pellinor on her History lessons. This one of course would involve her being very out of place and she wasn't going to give up her friends and happiness for some silly possibility that had just popped into her head.

"Um, because the monkeys weren't allowed on the south side of the river." Replied Mary. Her history teacher put his hand on his head and sighed in frustration.

"Have I taught you nothing about world war one in these past few lessons?" a long and awkward silence followed. "Well I guess your daydreaming doesn't disrupt my class as much as your usual chatter along the back row."

"Sorry sir, I suppose I just got a bit distracted." Replied Mary.

"By what were you distracted may I ask?" There weren't many answers to that question that wouldn't cause embarrassment. She could say something innocent but that would just make her look stupid if she said something like rubber ducks or shoes. She could say that she was dreaming about Pellinor, but that would just get her the point and say obsessed. She could say something really smart and complicated but that would just get her accused of being a smartass. Obviously she couldn't say a person but the longer she took to answer that question the more the evidence pointed to the latter. In the end she said.

"I was wondering what would happen if the world was square instead of round."

"Well that is an, interesting idea to think about but unfortunately the world being square doesn't make much of a difference to the after affects of world war one." For the rest of the lesson she did actually think about what would happen if the world were square. She liked the idea so much that she wouldn't stop talking about the strange happenings on her square planet for the next few days.

Cadvan stood in the shadows and watched from around the corner. Trust Maerad to think up something like that he thought, as a group of chattering, giggling girls walked past, Maerad among them. She seems to have made loads of new friends here and she looks so happy. He considered for a moment just going back to Edil-Amarandh and saying that he couldn't find her. He couldn't bear to see her so happy and jut bring her back to a life of hardship. He also couldn't bear to see Edil-Amarandh descend into darkness and she was the only one who could save it. If he brought her back there was a chance, however small, that she could be happy and Edil-Amarandh restored to its former glory. That was the only chance for anyone to ever speak freely again, to sit in the beautiful gardens and to look out over the sea. It would be tonight that he would approach her, and bring the fire lily back home.

**I hope you liked the twist at the end. This is the final chapter and I'm open to any criticism because it would be helpful for future fic's. Just to let you know this was my first ever fanfiction, but I thought that I would only tell you at the end so as not to put you off. Brought to you by**

**Queen Ardina, yay**


End file.
